Miss Happiness and Miss Flower

Does anyone besides my friends from Hawaii know about Girl's Day? Otherwise known as Hinamatsuri, or the Doll Festival OR the Peach Festival, this celebration is held every year on March 3. (not to be confused with Children's Day, which is a Japanese national holiday held on May 5th.) Apparently Japan has a lot of kid holidays and THAT'S RAD.

It's basically a day to celebrate little girls, and their safe upbringing! I can tell you, that's pretty much all I hope for, for Julia to make it to adulthood in one piece. And with my sanity intact. That's not asking for too much is it?

So since I like Japanese stuff and I like my daughter, and also dolls, we're celebrating Girl's Day! Typically, special and fancy ceremonial Japanese dolls, which are passed down from grandmas to mothers to daughters, are set out and displayed. A typical display consists of about 15 dolls.

We have um, maybe 3? If you count our Japanese kokeshi doll eraser. AND I DO.

Super sweet reader Colleen wrote me and asked if I knew about the book 'Miss Happiness and Miss Flower' by Rumer Godden. I got our copy, with illustrations by Jean Primrose, from the library. That edition seems to be $60 and up for even a used copy. This version is more reasonable, but I haven't seen it or the art.

Actually I had known about it and buried it somewhere in my Pinterest boards, but I had totally forgotten all about its existence. So basically, Colleen made my whole month happy by suggesting I check out the book, because I did, and Julia and I read it and....

AAAAAAH it's so awesome!!!!!

Ok, here's the real deal. I think I got away with Julia sitting for this one because she's been royally sick for the past week and a half. It's oh so slightly too old for her. This book would have ROCKED MY SOCKS off when I was about 8 or 9.

But it's FABULOUS. A motherless little girl from India is sent to live with her English cousins, and she receives two beautiful and magical Japanese dolls. The rest of the story is about how she and her cousins create an amazing Japanese doll house for Miss Happiness and Miss Flower (the dolls) to live in.

OH, and her cousin Belinda is a LITTLE PUNK, who is awful. (but she learns to be less awful.)

It reminds me a bit of  'A Little Princess' in tone. If I had read this when I was a little girl, it would have been one of my favorite books.

At the end, there are REAL DOLL HOUSE PLANS, like with carpentry specifics, to make a real Japanese doll house with sliding doors and whatnot.

This was the version Julia was inspired to make. It may not hold up as well as a real wood dollhouse but I think her effort is both admirable and adorable.

Also, anything will hold together if you throw enough tape on it, I've discovered.

So hurray for Girl's Day! On Friday, I'll show you some Japanese treats we got last weekend.